I-Corps: Educational game based on research from Jurassic and current coral reefs

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一个基于理解珊瑚礁如何在环境变化中生存的教育游戏。这款拟议的游戏是一个学习工具，使用真实世界的例子指导玩家完成进化和灭绝的过程。将科学与游戏相结合，鼓励通过协作和制定战略进行主动学习。其目标是提高科学素养并鼓励参与保护。了解珊瑚礁可能对现实世界的情景(如游戏中的模型)做出的反应，可能有助于理解如何通过指导保护、法律和补救措施来保护现代海洋群落。受过教育并参与其中的公众是保护环境的关键。手机和电脑游戏的可及性和受欢迎程度可能会使它们的采用变得更容易和更愉快。大多数教育游戏都是面向幼儿的，或者专注于生物、化学或物理。这项拟议的技术将地球科学的原理和例子融入了一个精心设计、经过良好测试的针对高中、大学和成人观众的游戏中。这个i-Corps项目基于开发一个教育地球科学移动、网络或计算机游戏，利用对生态系统如何在环境变化中幸存下来的理解。协作学习和基于游戏的学习的好处已经得到了很好的证实，但很少有游戏包含新的科学发现或概念。拟议中的游戏旨在融合地球科学、进化论和化石记录。拟议的教育电子游戏已经作为棋盘游戏进行了测试，向玩家传授环境变化、珊瑚礁生态和进化机制，以及这些系统如何相互作用，随着时间的推移导致重大的社区变化。这个游戏融合了对摩洛哥侏罗纪时代的珊瑚礁和牙买加今天活着的珊瑚礁的研究得出的环境、生物群和气候变化情景。该游戏和相关材料已经在本科生的地球科学、海洋学和生物学课程中进行了评估，并显示出向学生传授珊瑚礁的潜力，以及它们如何随着自身的演变和地球上的环境变化而随时间变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an educational game based on understanding how coral reefs survive environmental change. This proposed game is a learning tool that guides players through the processes of evolution and extinction using real-world examples. Integrating science with gaming encourages active learning via collaboration and strategizing. The goal is to increase scientific literacy and encourage engagement with conservation. Understanding how coral reefs might react to real-world scenarios (as modeled in a game) may provider an understanding of how modern ocean communities may be protected using guiding conservation, laws, and remediation. An educated and engaged public is key to conservation. The accessibility and popularity of mobile and computer games may make their adoption easier and more enjoyable. Most educational games are marketed towards young children or are focused on biology, chemistry, or physics. The proposed technology incorporates Earth science principles and examples in a well-designed, well-tested game aimed at high school, college, and adult audiences.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an educational Earth science mobile, web, or computer game using the understanding how ecosystems survived past environmental change. The benefits of collaborative learning and game-based learning have been well established, but very rarely do games incorporate new scientific discoveries or concepts. The proposed game is designed to incorporate Earth sciences, evolution, and the fossil record. The proposed educational electronic game has been tested as a board game that teaches the player about environmental change, reef ecology and evolutionary mechanisms as well as how these systems interact to cause major community change through time. The game incorporates environments, biotas, and climate change scenarios from research on Jurassic-aged reefs in Morocco and coral reefs alive today in Jamaica. The game and associated material have been assessed in undergraduate geoscience, oceanography, and biology classes and show the potential to teach students about coral reefs and how they change through time in response to their own evolution as well as environmental shifts on our planet.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.